Using retro aesthetics in your design doesn’t have to mean adding 70s hippie graphics or neon lasers from the 80s.

You can incorporate elements of the past in much subtler, more meaningful ways.

For instance, pretend you are starting an animal rescue. This folder design for a fictional animal shelter simulates the “light leak” effect you might get when using vintage analog cameras. It’s an understated look that evokes a sense of nostalgia and sentimentality without beating the viewer over the head.

This tutorial will show you how to create the same design. Once you’ve mastered the light leak technique, you can work it into a design of your own.

2. Open Photoshop. Click File > Open to open the folder template in Photoshop. Keep the settings in the Rasterize EPS Format window as they are and click the OK button.

3. Using the Rectangle Tool (U), create a rectangle that covers the left and right panels of the folder. In the Properties Panel, set the Stroke to 40px and select the option shown in the screenshot so that it will appear on the outside edge of the rectangle.

4. Using the Crop Tool (C), cut the canvas down to the rectangle’s outline.

6. Now we can delete the rectangle and move the solid white layer underneath the dieline layer. Name the layer with the lines “Dielines” and lock it by pressing the lock icon on the top of Layers panel; this way you won’t move it accidentally.

9. In order to fill the extra white space on the bottom and left sides, select the left side of the image using the Marquee Tool (M) and enlarge it to fill the remainder of the left panel using the Free Transform Tool (Ctrl+T). Then, use Cut (Ctrl+X) and Paste (Ctrl+V) to separate this part of image to its own layer. It will automatically be named as Layer 1.

10. Create a copy of Layer 1. In the Layers Panel, move Layer 1 and its copy underneath the layer with the dog photo. On the canvas, move Layer 1 to the right bottom corner in order to fill the white space there.

11. Create a mask on the dog photo layer by pressing the appropriate icon on the Layers Panel.

12. Use the Gradient Tool on the mask to make the bottom edge softer so that it blends with the rest of the image.

13. Open the image of a running dog. We’ll need to separate the dog from the background. Choose Select > Select and Mask. Then, using the Quick Selection Tool, select the dog. Make sure Layer Mask is selected in the Output Settings area and press OK.

14. Right-click on the layer and choose Duplicate Layer. Make sure that your project’s name appears in the Document dropdown and press OK. Move the dog to the center of the back panel.

15. Select all layers except Dielines and Color Fill 1 and convert them into a Smart Object by right-clicking and choosing Convert to Smart Object.

17. Using the Brush Tool, draw at the center of the mask to make the gradient more transparent as shown in the screenshot.

18. Change the blending mode of the Gradient Map layer to Screen with 65% opacity.

19. Using the Gradient Tool, create a gradient with black at the bottom and white at the top as shown in the screenshot.

20. Change the blending mode of the gradient to Overlay with 70% opacity.

21. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Photo Filter. Press OK.

22. Using the Brush Tool, draw on the Photo Filter mask to make gradient more transparent at the center as shown in the screenshot.

23. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves. Press OK. Set the curve as shown in the screenshot.

24. Create a rectangle using the Rectangle Tool (U) that covers the whole canvas. Set the color to the following: C71 M72 Y61 K84

25. Using the Marquee Tool (M), create a selection that comprises nearly the entire width and height of the image. Go to Select > Modify > Feather and set the Feather Radius to 100 pixels. Go to Select > Inverse. Click on the mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.

26. Change the blending mode of this rectangle to Linear Burn with 37% opacity.

27. On the left side of the folder, create a rectangle using the Rectangle Tool (R) and set the color to: C13 M86 Y0 K0

28. Change the blending mode of this rectangle to Linear Burn with 100% opacity.

29. Import all fonts into the project (as well as the company’s logo). Place the logo and add text as shown using the Horizontal Type Tool (T).

Lightroom is your digital darkroom without biting chemicals. Instead of toxic perils, you’ll find clean switches, sliders, and buttons to adjust the quality and looks of your photos. Still, that’s not easy, as finding the perfect settings for the most fascinating results needs a lot of experience. To ease the pain on the lesser experienced Lightroomers Adobe’s solution allows for so-called presets. These presets are batches of settings that lead to predictable results. Becoming creative with these is just a matter of choosing the right preset and let it do its work. We have 30 high-quality options for you. And all of them are free to use.

Most photographers know the basics to good product photos – using a tripod, setting your camera to the widest aperture, using a white background, creating an out-of-focus background, and more. But what about those really unique product photographs? You know the ones. They simply don’t look like a normal product photo you’d see in a regular catalog. These are usually used for full page features in a catalog or in ads for top brands.

While the photographers of these inspiring photos did follow the most important product photography rules, they also played around with breaking some of these rules. If you are too timid and unsure in your photography to step out of the box, you will probably never produce a truly unique product photo, such as what you see with Nike or the Anthropologie print catalog. However, if you are ready to take the plunge, you may want to try one or more of these 10 tips for truly unique product photography.

1.) Hang Products

Now, hanging products for better view is not necessarily an unusual practice in and of itself. Creative hanging, however, is. Maybe you should hang the product upside down, sideways, or in an unusual location. Suspend it from wires or ropes that remain a part of the photo. Go grotesque, sexy, or humorous. Play around with it and be sure to take way more photos than is necessary, and definitely be sure your lighting is perfect. Check out some of these creative photos with interesting suspension for some ideas:

2.) Shoot from Strange Angles

Usually photographers place the camera at the same level as the product so that the shot comes out at eye-level. Most of the time, you want to be careful about shooting from odd angles, simply because it can distort a product. However, sometimes you can get away with this, especially if distortion is a look you are going for or if the product is one that will be difficult to distort. You may even want to try hanging the product normally but shooting from underneath or above. Here are some more photos shot from odd angles:

3.) Try Some Macro Shots

Keep in mind that most macro shots will probably need to be ones that are used in conjunction with normal product photos. However, they can be a great asset to a series of photos for, say, a feature page in a catalog, or an eye-catching poster ad. Just be sure that your lighting is phenomenal so that the tiniest details show up. The following are examples of excellent product macro photography:

4.) Show the Product in Weird Use

Grab the product, a piece of paper, and a pen. Now write down every use you can think of for the product. You may need to start with the more normal, everyday uses to get your brain up and running, but eventually try to come up with some ideas that are really out there. Then look over your list and circle the ones that have great potential for a unique product shoot. You may need to do some digital editing/illustration or costume/set design with this, so plan out your idea fully before starting the shoot. Here are some creative product uses:

5.) Use Photo Manipulation

This secret goes hand-in-hand with tip #4 above. If you don’t have any skills with photo manipulation, you may need to hire a graphic design artist for help. However, this could be a great opportunity to learn Photoshop and Illustrator for some seriously original product photos. Check out some of these very interesting photo manipulations:

6.) Incorporate an Interesting Background

Many product photos stick with the rule of a plain background to put the focus on the product or to add another image in the background. Staging a unique background and props with the main product in the foreground can really add interest and even improve how desirable a product is. Take a look at some of these intricately staged product photos:

7.) Keep Your Background in Focus

Wait, what? Yes, an off-focus background keeps the eye on the main product. Sometimes, though, you may want to place, say, a food product with similar foods to suggest uses. In this case, keeping your product slightly in front but keeping the background clear can help promote this idea. Although, you can also try switching it up at times and place the product alongside the props or even in the background. Here are some great product photos with (mostly) focused backgrounds:

8.) Place Products Above a Reflected Surface

A reflection adds quite a bit of depth to an otherwise boring photo. And don’t get stuck using a mirror. Try using photo manipulation to reflect the image on water. Or place the product in a shallow pan of water. Use lighting to enhance the reflection and edit later to further bring out the reflection. The following are some great product reflections:

9.) Use Unique Stands

Setting products on fancy stands is a great way to add appeal to a photo. Take it to another level, though, by using items that you normally wouldn’t use for stands. An old box, another product turned upside down, a hand, a belly, the top of a head, geometric shapes, or even a photo manipulated stand. Below are some quite unique stands in use for products:

10.) Add Personality

Humanize products in your photography. Or create a story that surrounds it. Give it character. Ask your client what it is that makes their unique product better or simply different than a competitor’s. Use your photos to portray this aspect of the product for which the brand is known. These following photos certainly add personality to the products:

Do you have any more great tips or ideas for creating unusual, outstanding product photos? Please share with the rest of us in the comments below!

The article was first published in September 2013 and has been updated recently. (dpe)

]]>https://www.noupe.com/design/10-beginner-tips-for-unique-product-photography-79099.html/feed10Brushing Up: A Large Collection of Free Photoshop Brusheshttps://www.noupe.com/design/brushing-up-a-collection-of-free-photoshop-brushes.html
https://www.noupe.com/design/brushing-up-a-collection-of-free-photoshop-brushes.html#commentsTue, 08 May 2018 05:00:43 +0000http://mgmt.noupe.com/?p=67219
Photoshop brushes are a hot commodity among the design community, so every now and then we like to look in on what new sets have been released to the masses. And in this post we have collected dozens of new, free Photoshop brushes to spice up your design arsenal, and help give you that push to dive into a new project, armed with decorative new design tools to take with you. Because really, when it comes to brushes, can you have too many?

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Photoshop brushes are a hot commodity among the design community, so every now and then we like to look in on useful sets. In the following article, we have collected dozens of new free Photoshop brushes to spice up your design arsenal. Because really, when it comes to brushes, can you have too many?

If you believe with us that the answer to that question is a definitive ‘no’, then take a look down through the PS brushes we have found for you, and load up. The licenses do tend to change, so please be sure to take a look at each one before you grab them. Enjoy!

The Brush Off

That brings us to the end of this new collection. Feel free to use the comment section to leave your thoughts on these fantastic design tools, or to link us over to a set that’s inevitable for your arsenal. We look forward to hearing from you.

(dpe)

The article was originally published on June 18th of 2012. All links have been verified to still work on the 7th of May 2018. The article image has been changed and was taken from the vast portfolio of Depositphotos.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018 is here, and there are a couple of solid arguments for a spontaneous purchase. We’ll tell you about them.

Adobe Photoshop Elements: Not an Amateur Version

People like to call Adobe Photoshop Elements a watered down version of Photoshop CC. This definition was never correct, though. Elements, and its just-released 2018 version has always been a completely different software, with a unique control concept.

While the expensive, heavy weight version is aimed at professional image editors that want to manipulate even the last pixel, Elements is directed towards the everyday user. This doesn’t mean that Elements doesn’t produce professional results. The opposite is the case.

Especially for web designers, Adobe Photoshop Elements can be the better choice, as it’s entirely sufficient even compared to the big brother (or sister, to keep genderists calm). The benefits are obvious. You can buy Elements for a one-time payment of 98.77 EUR, while the only way to get Photoshop CC is a Creative Cloud subscription.

The more critical aspect, however, is that Elements’ toolset is a lot easier to learn than the one of the big, often too big, counterpart. Elements is an alternative to Adobe Lightroom, the graphics giant’s photo lab, too, as Elements also aims at users that value fast and easy manipulation of image settings. Thus, one could call Elements a successful mix of Photoshop and Lightroom, which does not even try to match their feature sets but only forgoes functions that don’t matter in an everyday editing routine.

If you’re a professional photographer, these statements don’t apply. Stick with Photoshop CC and Lightroom. But, naturally, your routine is completely different from my webdesign routine.

The Best Innovations of Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018

With the version 2018, Adobe switched to naming their versions after years. This has been long overdue, as there has always been only one version per year as it is.

Aside from many detail improvements, Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018 comes with a bunch of completely new features that massively ease your daily photo work.

Automatically Opening Closed Eyes

We all know it. You take a photo of a client’s team for their website, but one of them closes their eyes. Each. And. Every. Time. Of course, it’s not always the same one. If that was the case, we could do something about that. Replace him with another one, for example…

Elements 2018 gives you a function that automatically opens closed eyes on images. This requires you to have another image where the according person has their eyes open. So, Elements doesn’t implement some generic eye but uses the original as a base.

Auto Selection After a Rather Rough Outline

Separating objects, like fore- and background, has become more comfortable with version 2018. Improved algorithms promise a more precise selection, even if the object of choice is only roughly outlined.

Auto Selection (Photo: Adobe)

New Assistants for Common Editing Requests

How often are you asked to replace a background, overlay images, or for the special effect of double exposure? In Elements 2018, dedicated assistants guide you through the respective task step by step.

An Example of What the Assistant’s Result for Double Exposure Could Look Like. (Photo: Adobe)

Expanded Abilities of the Element Organizer

Elements was already able to filter photos by specific criteria, such as people or locations. The photo-tagging based on the subject isn’t new either. This was always a massive help when it came to searching or finding relevant images.

The ability to make Elements curate only the best photos is new, though. Let’s assume you needed twelve images for a custom year calendar. Now, define a period in the Elements Organizer, and click on “auto curate” in the top right. The slider next to it lets you determine how many images should be included in the selection. In the example, you would drag the slider to 12 images.

Now, the Organizer analyzes the selection, and filters the best images, depending on several different aspects, including technological ones.

Is the Update Worth it?

If you already own version 15, which is the version right before 2018, you have to decide if the mentioned new additions are worth the price, which is 80.92 for the update. If you use Elements on a regular basis as a part of your professional toolbox, the answer will probably be yes.

If you haven’t worked with Elements before, version 2018 is the right one to get started. The tool has never been as powerful as it is now.

Photoshop can be expanded in nearly every way imaginable. There are the large plugins, effectively supporting Photoshop as independent programs, actions that act out previously defined command sequences, and the panels, which offer functions in their own control panels. This turns an already powerful image editor into a far larger, customized program.

]]>https://www.noupe.com/design/40-photoshop-add-ons.html/feed120 Best Resources to Learn Photoshop Within a Few Dayshttps://www.noupe.com/design/image-vector-editing/photoshop/20-best-resources-to-learn-photoshop-within-a-few-days.html
https://www.noupe.com/design/image-vector-editing/photoshop/20-best-resources-to-learn-photoshop-within-a-few-days.html#commentsMon, 23 Jan 2017 09:00:41 +0000http://www.noupe.com/?p=100121]]>

There are countless Photoshop resources online for beginners and experienced designer. But which websites are right to enhance your designing skills? Your search is over. Here is a list of 20 of the best sites to learn Photoshop online.

DeviantArt is a creative online community. Divided into different categories, it is easy to find Photoshop tutorials that instruct viewers on specific techniques, and on painting an image from scratch.

The canny tool creators from Source are back. Fontea is a recently published plugin that allows you to use all Google fonts directly within Photoshop. Fontea works starting from Photoshop version 2015 on up and is free. An extension for Sketch is also announced.

Comfortably Use Google Fonts on the Desktop

Years ago, I presented ways to download and locally use all Google Fonts, to be more flexible. However, the complete download is a heavy load, and thus won’t be a good alternative for most people. The advantage is that the solution is entirely free.

An alternative to that is the tool Skyfonts, which I presented here. It allows you to select individual Google Fonts that you want to synchronize, meaning download. Here, the hitch is, that you have to choose the fonts on the service’s website. After that, you can synchronize them. As long as you stick to Google Fonts, Skyfonts is free as well.

Fontea Makes Using Fonts in Photoshop Easier

The new tool called Fontea only works with Photoshop, while the previously mentioned solutions work on the operating system level, and are thus able to provide fonts for all programs. However, I found out that I don’t need the fonts in other programs. I use Photoshop to create design prototypes. That’s where I need the Google Fonts, and not in Microsoft’s Office, where they only slow down the font selection.

Fontea is currently available for download on Mac OSX and Windows. It works from Photoshop 2015 and up. Designers that switched from Photoshop to Sketch will be happy to hear that a Fontea version for Sketch is on the way.

The download and installation of the less than 50 MB heavy package is done as usual. Fontea recognizes the installation path to Photoshop on its own, but it can also be manually bent to other paths.

Once installed, you can find Fontea in Photoshop under Window > Extensions > Fontea. Once clicked, one of the usual levitating windows appears on the right side of the editor. The way it works is very simple. Mark a text layer, and then click on one of the fonts in the Fontea window. After a bit of waiting, the entered text is displayed in the chosen font. That’s it.

To ease handling hundreds of fonts at once, Fontea comes with a bunch of tools. For one, you can limit the font selection to one of six categories. The tool also allows you to search via free text. You’ll find the fonts you used last by clicking the icon “Recent.” On top of that, you can mark fonts as a favorite with a single click, making sure that it is added to the respective favorite list.

Please keep in mind that in order to use it, a Source account, which you set up fast and easily when you first use Fontea, is needed. You can choose Facebook, Twitter, or Github for the OAuth authentification. If you don’t want to do that, use the classic email and password combination.

Fontea: Clear Recommendation

In my test using Windows 10 and Photoshop 2015, everything worked perfectly fine. The response time of about two seconds after choosing the font was definitely acceptable, given that my internet speed is rather lacking.

As neither Fontea, nor the included fonts cost any money and are some of the most popular fonts in web design, there is no reason not to use Fontea. Just try it yourself. If you’re a Sketch user, be patient. Fontea is already in the works for you.

Most graphic and web designers should be used to Photoshop, and work with it more or less often. To make the daily work with Adobe’s pixel-editing flagship even more comfortable and easy, there are several extensions that supposedly ease the workflow. Today we want to introduce you to five of these indispensable extensions.

Perfect Patterns Using “Seamless Textures”

Original Image With “Tile“ and “Mirror” Pattern

Those who have already turned an image into a pattern know that it’s not always easy, as a pattern needs to be crafted in a way that the single tiles can not be recognized when the area filled by the pattern is viewed as a whole. The extension “Seamless Texture” helps you create perfect patterns.

It will turn a square image into a pattern that meets the mentioned requirements in no time. To do that, the plugin provides two options that turn one image into a seamless pattern. The variant “Tile” copies the image into all four corners of the working space. Thanks to a radial route, transitions are created seamlessly.

The second option “Mirror” shrinks the image to a quarter of its size and copies it so that it is in every quarter of the working space. For that, the images are mirrored so that the fitting edges are adjacent. This creates the seamless transitions. All patterns are set up as separate layers, and thus, the original image remains untouched.

“Seamless Textures” is free. However, you will need to attribute its creator when it’s used for commercial purposes.

Renaming Layers With “Renamy”

The extension “Renamy” does something rather simple. It renames all layers, however not one after the other, but any desired amount at once. If for example, you want to give the same name to a stack of layers, this can be done in no time via “Renamy”. Only mark all layers you want to rename and enter the new name.

Fast Renaming of Layers With “Renamy”

Apart from that, “Renamy” also allows you to replace characters within layer names. For that, there’s a simple search-and-replace function, as well as a feature that supports regular expressions.

To make sure that replacements don’t need to be newly defined every time, the extension saves all previously used ones, so that they can be applied again if needed.

“Renamed for Photoshop” is available as a free demo and as a paid full version for $9.99. The demo version allows you to save five replacements only. The full version provides infinite saves for later use.

Scaling and Rotating of Multiple Photoshop Layers With “Transform Each”

Scaling and rotating of layers is not really something that you need a tool for. However, there are situations in which multiple layers need to be scaled or rotated at the same time. This is difficult as soon as the individual layers need to keep their positions.

Fast Scaling and Rotating of Layers Via “Transform Each”

If you mark multiple layers and scale or rotate them together, the center of the group is used to scale or rotate them. This means the layers change their positions. To prevent that, you either need to scale every single layer manually, or use “Transform Each”.

Using this Photoshop extension, you can choose multiple layers and change their sizes as well as the angle, without altering the position of the individual layers.

“Transform Each” is also available for free. More detailed license conditions are not available, however.

Photoshop: Control Layers With “Layrs Control”

The extension “Layrs Control” comes with multiple tools that help you manage layers. This allows you to clean up Photoshop files that ended up being complex or unclear.

Additionally, the extension also causes all smart objects and effects to be screened if desired.

“Layrs Control” is also available for free and comes without any license conditions. Note that the extension requires the ZXPInstaller, an open source installer for Adobe extensions, so that it can be used with Photoshop.

Integrate Images and Data as Placeholders Via “Craft” for Photoshop

The extension pack “Craft” consists of three tools that mainly deal with placing and duplicating images, texts and data. “Photo” allows you to place images from a Dropbox or desktop folder on the working space at random. Pictures of the free photo service Unsplash are also supported.

Three Extensions in One Pack: “Craft”

This is especially useful for layouts. All you need to do is choose a layer in which a filled space exists. The extension fills this area with an image chosen at random.

“Type” works similarly. It places randomly selected text snippets to display a filled form, for example. To do so, determine whether a name, an email address, or a country, for instance, should be placed as text. There’s a total of 17 categories available to choose from. Paragraphs of texts for articles are also available. However, all texts are provided in the English language.

The last tool in the bundle is called “Duplicate” and helps you duplicate and place layers. You can use the extension to copy the content as often as you want to, and place it horizontally or vertically with a pre-defined gap.

Conclusion

All shown extensions are free or, at least, available in a free version, and run with the recent Photoshop version CC 2015. Especially for daily use, they are an enrichment and can make your work significantly easier at times.

(dpe)

]]>https://www.noupe.com/design/photoshop-5-indispensable-extensions-for-everyday-use-96495.html/feed3Make a Dent: 40 of the Best Cinema 4D Tutorialshttps://www.noupe.com/design/make-a-dent-40-of-the-best-cinema-4d-tutorials-85390.html
Tue, 14 Oct 2014 13:00:25 +0000http://www.noupe.com/?p=85390If you are a 3D artist you are surely aware of the fact that Cinema 4D is a powerful, almost almighty tool. Combine it with Photoshop and you’ll get even more super powers. From creating 3D models to adding textures and animating the result – there is not much we cannot do. In this article we have collected 40 of the best tutorials to help you make a dent – probably not in the universe, but here where your potential customers can see it…

]]>Lifelong Learning: Certified Online Tutorials by Adobe Experts Train Simple for a One-time Payment of 79 Dollarshttps://www.noupe.com/design/lifelong-learning-certified-online-tutorials-by-adobe-experts-train-simple-for-a-one-time-payment-of-79-dollars-85346.html
Fri, 10 Oct 2014 13:00:32 +0000http://www.noupe.com/?p=85346Should you expect to get a lifelong membership of Train Simple through this deal, you are totally right. Our Deal of the Week gives you the opportunity to gain lifetime access to the massive portfolio of official Adobe training videos for a friction of the original price. If this is too far into the future for you, buy a year’s membership, still massively discounted. If you find more than 5,400 online training videos covering Adobe’s product portfolio from A to Z attractive, you should definitely read on…

As a designer there’s no getting round Adobe. Despite quite some criticism regarding their latest license model named Creative Cloud competition is scarce and Adobe apps still top the charts. I myself use their programs since the late Nineties and don’t see which apps should make me switch. While they are the top of the pops, Adobe’s apps aren’t easy to handle as long as you don’t know your ways around. You’ll go through a steep learning curve until you will be able to fully master the apps. Professional learning support is the best investment you can do.

Our "Deal of the Week", again presented by Mighty Deals, offers you to snap either a year’s or a lifelong membership at online course provider Train Simple. Besides getting access to more than 5,400 tutorial videos, you’ll be able to consume each course while on the go. Train Simple’s mobile apps do the trick.

Decide to buy the year’s membership and save 50 percent. Decide to buy the lifelong membership and save a whopping 97 percent. The only precondition is that you are fluent in English. Train Simple doesn’t offer their tutorials in any other language.

The Highlights of This Deal:

5,000+ Video TutorialsTalk about an education! Your access to Train Simple’s online library gives you more than 5,400 high-quality video tutorials to help you master Adobe’s popular software titles and even Web technology itself.

Learn Everything from Photoshop to HTML5Train Simple’s tutorials give you the training you need to completely learn Adobe’s design and Web development software including Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Edge Animate, Muse, Fireworks and more! You can even take lessons on Web technology like HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, WordPress and more!

New Courses Added Frequently
Train Simple’s constantly updating their courses. The following new courses will be released during the month of October:

Graphic Design

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Become CertifiedThese aren’t just average, run-of-the-mill video tutorials, by the way. These are official lessons from Adobe about using its popular products. If you decide to follow a very specific Technology Track with Train Simple, you can actually become certified in a specific area of study! You just need to follow the pre-set tracks, watch a number of courses in order and pass the various quizzes and final exam to earn your certification.

Learn AnywhereTrain Simple’s invaluable videos can be watched anywhere you are! Thanks to mobile apps, you’re not just bound to your laptop or desktop computer. Now you can learn on the go by soaking up lessons on your mobile devices including tablets and iPads.

Top-Notch InstructorsTrain Simple is an official Adobe Authorized Training Center! That means you’ll be learning valuable lessons from some of the industry’s leading Adobe experts.

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Now for the Second Important Part, the Price

If you want to buy a lifetime membership over at Train Simple you can always do so. The downside is it would set you back 2,500 dollars. With our Deal of the Week this price falls 97 percent to 79 dollars.

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This article is sponsored by Mighty Deals and as such an advertisement. Noupe does not participate from sales on an affiliate basis, though. Our new ads format “Deal of the Week” is run once a week at max. So if you want to book a deal for your product, get in touch with the friendly staff over at Commindo Media.

]]>24+ Best Apps for Graphic Design Freelancershttps://www.noupe.com/design/24-best-apps-for-graphic-design-freelancers-85262.html
https://www.noupe.com/design/24-best-apps-for-graphic-design-freelancers-85262.html#commentsMon, 06 Oct 2014 08:00:28 +0000http://www.noupe.com/?p=85262One of the best ways to improve your workflow and time management as a graphic design freelancer is to use apps. Not just any app will do, however. You need ones that won’t waste your time by crashing and that help you both on the go and when around your computer. Our collection of the best apps for graphic design freelancers below are divided into design and photography apps and business management apps. As a graphic designer, you never know when inspiration might hit, which is why you want something in place to record your idea before you lose it. And we all hate the annoying business tasks, especially when they take too much time away from designing. The apps below should help solve both of these problems that can occur for graphic design freelancers.

In the list below, iOS, Android, and desktop apps are all included. Some of the apps are surprisingly free, others come with a small one-time fee, others come with a monthly or yearly subscription. I have tried to include lots of variety so that designers can find the perfect fit for their budgets and needs. Enjoy!

Design and Photography Apps

This incredible photo editing app comes with over 190 filters that allow anyone to create stunning or stylistic photos. It comes with standard editing tools, text labels, textures, and sharing features to make showing off your work easy.

This media painting app is completely compatible with Photoshop so that you can finish and touch up your designs on your computer. It comes with plenty of tools, such as brushes, full color, paint, erase, smudge tools, and more. It even allows up to five layers!

This mobile HD video camera allows you to set the focus and exposure individually, unlike Apple’s default camera app, allowing you to take stunning videos while on the go. You can also lock focus, exposure, and white balance individually. With different frame rates, motion FX, audio support, and professional grade 50 mbps image quality setting, Filmic Pro comes with a lot of features for such a low price!

Adobe Kuler actually has a free app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. See a color you like while out and about? Take a picture and use the Kuler app to extract the colors. Save your color themes for future use.

Adobe Ideas by Adobe

Free; iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch

Another amazing app made completely free by Adobe, this is the iPhone companion to Illustrator. If you have a Creative Cloud membership with Adobe, you can sync your ideas with your Illustrator program for further refinement. You can even sync with Kuler and use your saved color themes. This app includes multiple brushes, color sliders, and up to 10 layers, along with the ability to move or resize each layer.

Using Photoshop Remote Connections, this app allows you to see how your Photoshop designs will appear on an actual iPhone. Once you enable the remote connection in Photoshop, you simply enter your password and changes you make in the software automatically are updated in the app. You can save the preview to your camera roll or share a flattened version of the image.

Adobe Photoshop Touch by Adobe

$4.99/£2.99; for iPhone and iPod Touch

The Photoshop app is finally available for iPhone and comes with core features found in the desktop version, such as layers, adjustments, selection tools, filters, graphical text, and even some extras like the ability to combine photos and use Refine Edge. Plus, Camera Fill works with your phone camera! Your free membership with Creative Cloud stores up to 2GB data, has automatic syncing between devices, and comes with the ability to share designs. More features are available on the iPad and Android versions for $9.99 each.

Marksta is a handy little app that helps you add watermarks to photos before uploading to the web. It comes with lots of features for customizing your watermarks, including adding multiple lines of text, including your logo, customizing the borders, adding effects to layers, adding or removing GPS geo tags, and much more. Even multiple typefaces are available.

This app allows you to record lots of short clips to make a short 3 to 15 second film. You can even add filters for a unique look and share your film on Instagram, Vine, or Facebook. And if you find yourself wanting more, upgrade to Pro for soundtracks, clip merging, segment rearranging, and other advanced controls.

You may also want to try the Classic Hipstamatic app, $1.99, a camera app for iOS that allows you to switch lenses, flashes, and films for giving photographs an analog look. Check out Hipstamatic for more awesome apps they’ve created for iOS.

Just so Android users don’t think I’ve forgotten them, I’ve included a photo editor for Android. It comes with all the basic photo editing abilities, including sharpen, blur, and adjustments for brightness/ saturation/ contrast/ color temperature. Plus, it also comes with stickers, the ability to draw and add text, photo effects, and frames. If you want more, just pay for the extra effects and frame packs you need.

This app could save a lot of time for designers working with vectors. Need a specific vector shaped like, say, that plant in the corner of your office? Simply snap a photo and use Vector Snap to quickly turn the photo into a nice, unique vector image, instantly! This app works by tracing images to SVG, which you can then save as SVG or PNG. Modify the design using the app’s pixel and vector filters, text tool, or advanced color lab, or save it and fine tune it on your desktop.

This app helps you create designs with beautiful, consistent fonts by giving you access to over 23,000 web fonts from places like fonts.com, Google, MyFonts, Adobe TypeKit, and more. Easily test HTML/CSS across devices so that you can see exactly how a font will look, no matter how users access a website. Visual controls help with line spacing, letter spacing, and line height. You can create a style guide and so much more that it’s really unbelievable this app is so cheap.

Business Management Apps

This app is great for new freelancers because it calculates estimates for your projects. My Price figures out how much you should charge a client based on a number of calculations such as if you are charging by hour or by project, your professional background, the kind of client, total cost of the project, industry standards, etc.

This awesome accounting app provides plans individuals or business teams, with even a free option that allows for limited clients and projects. The payment plans allow varying numbers of users but all give unlimited clients, projects, and invoices. Just a few of the tasks you can accomplish with Harvest include tracking your time on tasks, reports, invoicing, acceptance of payments, excellent tracking of expenses, lots of add-ons for accounting, project management, and much more.

This app works amazingly well, according to reviews on iTunes. It makes accounting for your business fast and easy. Create invoices, accept credit card payments (with a small, flat fee), track invoices and when they are paid, overdue, or even viewed by your client. Pretty much, it can do everything an expense accounting app can do, minus all the extra bells and whistles that most freelancers don’t need.

This is a killer app for keeping your graphic design business organized. Create lists, share with others, and have conversations about lists using the Comments feature. You can even set reminders, due dates, and receive push notifications so you don’t miss a deadline. Just like Google lists, you can send emails to Wunderlist to create a task. Plus, it comes with real-time sync for keeping up with your list between devices.

This incredible bookkeeping app also includes invoicing and time-tracking with lots of excellent features. The free use allows you to see 120 transactions or you can upgrade for unlimited transactions or to also add other features, which means you only pay for the features you want. It’s easy to use and works great, and you can even add bank and credit card accounts, customers, suppliers, expenses, and earnings. Transactions are easy to add and you can even set recurring transactions, such as for monthly expenses. It even comes with backup, online syncing, and much more.

The OmniFocus app is another task organizer, but much beefier than many out there. This one allows you to use features such as Perspectives, Contexts, and Focus to keep tasks organized and help you accomplish the most important tasks first. Much more comes with this app, making the one-time fee highly worth it. Plus, check out more apps from Omni Group, including OmniGraffle (an app for creating prototypes, mind maps, and other awesome graphics), OmniOutliner (a powerful note taker app), and much more.

Asana provides great project management for teams, allowing your design team to send tasks instead of emails for easier collaboration on projects. Set team goals and keep track with different features, including notification updates to help you finish tasks on time. free for unlimited teams of up to 15 members and unlimited projects and tasks

Emails are one of my least favorite tasks during the work day, but Mailstrom is the perfect app for getting rid of thousands of emails at once! I about turned cartwheels when I found this app. It bundles similar emails together so that you can organize or delete easily, has a tight privacy policy, and it even helps you unsubscribe from emails quickly and easily. For the free trial, Mailstrom takes a snapshot of your latest 5,000 emails, and you can eliminate 25%. If you find you really like all the time you just saved, then you can sign up for a plan to finish the rest for either $4.95/month or $49.95/year.

With Bidsketch, you can put together client proposals that look incredible and professional very quickly. Plus, it comes with the ability to accept electronic signatures, embed images and videos, and even additional services that clients can choose to accept when viewing the proposal. Try this awesome app free for 14 days. The freelancer price is $29/month, and more users and team collaboration features are available for higher priced plans.

With this password manager plus digital wallet app, you only have to remember your one password for Dashlane. Don’t lose this one, however, because Dashlane makes sure your information is highly secure by never storing your password in their database. This is why it is so safe to include even your credit card information, receipts, and every password for every account you ever have. Dashlane will ask you for your password and then autofill for you. Accessing websites via Safari on your iOS devices allows for fingerprint sign in. Plus, it even comes with a tool for helping you generate extremely secure passwords, automatic alerts when Dashlane believes any of your passwords are breached, and a security dashboard shows weak passwords that you may want to update. The free version only allows use of Dashlane on one device; or sign up for $39.99/year for unlimited devices and automatic backup of data. This app also provides flexible pricing for teams.

CX Cloud Solution

Custom packages; for Android, iOS

This white label cloud solution was created specifically for businesses needing a cloud storage, for backing up data, providing products to customers, etc. In fact, customers can access data through mobile apps or on their desktop, and the white label allows you to customize the look with your logo and brand colors. CX is great for graphic designers to back up and share portfolios, or for sharing projects with customers. It also comes with automatic uploading and file syncing and even allows customers to easily share and chat with you or each other. CX is constantly testing for quality control, making it very reliable and highly secure. Even better, you can pick and choose features if you don’t need everything in the full package.

What About You?

There are simply way too many awesome apps to list in a single post, so the list above is quite limited in comparison to what is available. This is why it would be great to hear from you on your favorite apps. What do you use to help you improve your work flow as a graphic designer, or even in your personal life? Do you use any of the apps listed above? Feel free to share in the comments below!

(dpe)

]]>https://www.noupe.com/design/24-best-apps-for-graphic-design-freelancers-85262.html/feed3Call to Action: 40 of the Best Button Tutorials the Web Has to Offerhttps://www.noupe.com/design/call-to-action-40-of-the-best-button-tutorials-the-web-has-to-offer-83061.html
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